Remittance

In studies of migration, remittance refers to the transmission of money earned or goods acquired by an immigrant worker back to his or her home country. Remittance rates around the world are unequally distributed. The United States is one of the largest sources of remittance to countries worldwide, while India, China, and the Philippines overwhelmingly receive the largest amounts of migrant remittances. The phenomenon of remittance is a key characteristic of transnational activity. Due to the increasing rate of global migration as well as the growing ease of communication and transportation of goods and people across borders, migrants are no longer restricted to any one nation-state. Rather, migrants are able to maintain ties in their homeland while creating new social, economic, political, and cultural connections abroad. Today, an interdisciplinary body of work recognizes that it is possible for a migrant's social life to blur across borders, even while these borders remain politically and culturally bright, and remittance rates are one measure scholars use to capture a migrant's transnationality.

As remittance flows grow and strengthen, particularly between the United States and Asian countries, transnational activity has begun to attract much media attention. The rise of transnationalism in post-9/11 America has sparked debate in the popular press and among politicians regarding the loyalty of some immigrant groups to the United States. In contrast, some work suggests that transnational ties may actually accelerate assimilation processes. Although some Americans may be wary of transnational activity, sending countries often promote dual citizenships and out-migration in the hope of increasing their remittance inflows. For many developing countries, remittances comprise a growing and important source of foreign capital. At the microeconomic level, remittances play a positive role in bringing family members left in the home country out of poverty. On the other hand, remittances may also negatively affect the relative purchasing power of individuals in the home country who do not receive remittances from family abroad.